


Mandela Effect

by ResplendentChungus



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2021-01-05 03:15:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21206495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ResplendentChungus/pseuds/ResplendentChungus
Summary: On a quiet afternoon, Steven tells Connie about his most recent mission with the Crystal Gems. However, trouble arises when Pearl’s memories seem to contradict Steven’s telling of the event; even worse, *Steven’s* memories contradict his story, and no one can figure out why.Something is very wrong, and it’s up to the Crystal Gems to find out what’s going on before it’s too late.Set between seasons 3 and 4, for various reasons.





	1. The Monopoly Man Never Had A Monocle

**Author's Note:**

> Well, here goes nothing. This is my first SU fic, not counting the SU Workbook Drabble Collection. (Check that out by the way ove rat https://archiveofourown.org/works/21153194).  
Special thanks to Hadithi and Crow T R0bot for beta-reading this, and I hope yall like it!

“Oh man, Connie, you won’t believe the mission we just did!”

Connie sat on the sofa, eager to listen to Steven’s recounting of his mission. She had only gone on one or two missions herself, always under Pearl’s careful supervision, and the experiences had only made her _ more _ interested in the Crystal Gems’ outings.

“Come on Steven, can it really be much weirder than the average day here?”

Steven paused to think for a second. “Well, I guess it’s not _ that _ much weirder.” There was a beat. “Okay, it wasn’t that weird at all. The only _ really _ weird thing about it was the gem of the monster we fought, everything else was kinda normal but the gem was all malformed and lumpy.” He made a weird motion with his hands, as if trying to outline the shape.

Connie giggled. “So that makes it, what, 50% weirder than my average day? Hop on it Steven, tell me what happened!”

“Well, it all started when we warped to some mountains...” 

* * *

Peridot’s sensors had picked up some gem energy thing in here that probably came from a gem monster. She was the only one who _ really _ knew how to work her tech, so she (and by extension, Lapis) came on the mission with us.

“These are the Caucasus Mountains,” Pearl said as we trekked (or flew, in Lapis’ case) the mountain path. “Like almost all mountain areas, it lacked the resources to function as a Kindergarten, and was also absent of troublesome humans, so Homeworld used them as blah blah blah blah.”

* * *

“No way Pearl said the words, ‘blah blah blah,” Connie commented. “You tuned out of her lecture, didn’t you?”

Steven tried (and failed) to hide a small blush. “Yes, maybe,” he said. “Now no more interrupting, please and thank you, unless it’s important or you thought of something cool or funny or you just really have something to say.”

* * *

The door we were looking for was pretty close to the warp pad, lucky for us, and pretty soon we got inside the big cavern cut out of the rock! It was_ huge _, big enough to fit- remember when Pearl and Amethyst and Garnet all fused into Alexandrite? It was big enough to fit Alexandrite standing up with room to spare, and there were a whole bunch of little tunnels leading in all different directions. There were stalactites all over the ceiling, some big and some small, and I’m pretty sure there was one so big it had a tunnel inside it!

“Be ready for trouble,” Garnet said, summoning her gauntlets. I got my shield ready, Amethyst grabbed her whip, Lapis made a fist out of the water she had melted on the way here, and Peridot brandished some soda cans. We were pretty threatening, if I do say so myself.

We _ did _ get trouble of course, Garnet tends not to be wrong about those sorts of things, but that came later.

Anyways, we all stuck together and wandered through the tunnels and Peridot used some spray paint she brought to mark where we came from and which tunnels we used, but none of the rooms we came to were that interesting. There was the occasional trap or screen, but they had all been sprung or wrecked long before we came here.

Eventually we got to big room that was probably the main hub or something. There were machines and panels and screens _ everywhere _ , but the weird thing was? _ All of them had been smashed _. Every single one!   
  


* * *

Back in the real world, Pearl had come out of her room. “Hello Steven, hello Connie. How are you doing today?”

“Hi ma’am,” Connie said. “Steven was just telling me about your mission earlier.”

Pearl chuckled. “Well I’m afraid it wasn’t terribly interesting. It was rather routine, as far as missions go. Where are you in the story now?”

“We just got into the main hub thingy and found it wrecked,” Steven said.

Upon hearing that, Pearl’s faint smile turned into a frown. “And... found it wrecked? Steven, what are you talking about? We only found one control hub, and everything in it worked perfectly fine.”

Connie felt unease stirring inside her guts. The control hub had been fine? Had Steven lied, or exaggerated or something? She turned to ask him what this was about, but when she did, she saw he looked as uneasy as she felt.

“Pearl, what do you mean?” Steven said. “W-Wasn’t it all smashed up?”

Pearl shook her head. “No, I’m sure it wasn’t. In fact, it _ couldn’t _have been smashed up, because-” She paused, eyes narrowing in… suspicion? What could she be suspicious of? “Actually, Steven, could you continue telling your story?”

“O-Okay..."

* * *

We continued through the caves, searching for any sign of gem activity. For a while, we didn’t find anything- until, about half an hour after we started our search, Peridot’s sensors picked up a signal.

“Aha!” Exclaimed Peridot, Lapis right on her heels as she led us into one of the tunnels. “There it is! Right this way, everyone!”

* * *

Pearl was silent, but it didn't take a cold reader to see Steven’s story was causing her distress. Her shoulders tensed, her eyes narrowed, and her frown deepened.

“M-Ma’am?” Connie said. “Is something wrong?”

For a short moment, Pearl said nothing. She didn’t even seem to hear Connie, her eyes never leaving Steven, drilling a hole into his very soul.

But then the moment passed, and Pearl said “Yes, something _ is _ wrong. Steven, you-“ she took a moment to compose herself. “Peridot and Lapis weren’t on the mission today. It was just you, me, Amethyst, and Garnet.”

There was silence.

“They, they weren’t?” Steven asked, face growing pale. “But I know they were! Peridot didn’t trust anyone to use her equipment-"

“When did her equipment come into this? Garnet came across the mountain base while on patrol and felt something, so we went over to check it out. Peridot’s gadgets had nothing to do with this...”

Pearl tried to meet Steven’s eyes, but his gaze was planted firmly on the floor. Not out of shame or embarrassment, that much was obvious. It seemed more that he was... deep in thought.

“Steven,” she said, “you’re _ sure _you remember Peridot and Lapis and a destroyed control hub?”

Steven shook his head. “Yes! No! I- that’s how I remember it happening! But... but when I think about it really hard... they weren’t, were they? No, they _ definitely _weren’t with us!”

So then why did he think they were? Predictably, this didn’t seem to make Pearl feel any better. 

“Ma’am,” Connie said, “do you know what’s going on?”

Pearl shook her head. “No, I _ don’t _ and that’s the problem! We don’t know what this is or what’s what’s causing this, it could be anything! Is it Homeworld? Is it some new Steven power? Is it- nothing?”

Pearl bit her lip and knelt down beside Steven. “Steven, if you...” She stole a glance at Connie. “If you... embellished the story and made up some things so it sounded cooler, please, just say so now. I _ promise _ I won’t be angry.”

Before she could finish her sentence, Steven was already shaking his head. “No, I just told it how I remembered it! I’m not making anything up, I promise.”

Pearl slowly nodded her head. “Okay then. I believe you, Steven.” She smiled self-deprecatingly. “Stars know we’ve suffered for not believing you before.” Quick as a flash, she stood up and began pacing.

Connie looked on with concern. This didn’t seem _ that _ big of a deal, but Pearl knew more about gem business than her and the experienced gem was obviously concerned. “Ma’am, Pearl, is it really that serious? Steven’s just remembering wrong, isn’t he?”

Pearl shook her head. “The only observable effect is false memories, yes, but the important question to ask is _ why _. People don’t just create entirely fake memories of things that happened a few hours ago, especially not such detailed and obviously inaccurate memories. Which means...”

Pearl trailed off, and Connie picked up where she left off. “Which means there’s a _ reason _ for it, and since we don’t know what it is, that reason could do _more_ things to Steven or be trying to hurt us or have different effects we haven’t seen yet.” Steven paled, just a bit, but Connie stayed resolute. “Ma’am, you don’t have _ any _ idea what this could be?”

Pearl shook her head silently, gnawing on her lower lip. “I don’t know anything that could have this effect, no. There’s any number of things it _ could _ be, but all I can say for sure is that it’s gem-related.” She paused. “Well, _ probably _ gem-related, but I am relatively sure we can rule out humans as the cause.”

No one said anything for a while, the three of them deep in thought.

_ “What’s doing this?” _ Steven thought, worry eating at him like acid at wood. _ “Will it hurt Connie and Pearl and the others? Will it hurt _ me _ ?” _

_ What on earth is this?” _ Pearl wondered, doing all she could not to gnaw on her fingers or lip or any other body part. _ “Is it from Homeworld? If it’s from Homeworld, we would have noticed their arrival and they would be attacking us instead of doing… whatever this is, right? So then what is it?”_

_ "Argh, why don’t I know anything about gems who don’t live on Beach City?” _ Connie thought, doing some deep breathing exercises her mom had taught her. _ “If I can’t figure out what type of gem is doing this, then I just have to look at other angles, like why it’s just messing with Steven’s memories, or why it’s only Steven whose affected. Why?”_

It was at that moment the door to the temple opened and Amethyst stepped out, just finishing a bag of old chips. “Hey dudes,” she drawled. “What’s going on? Is Pearl teaching you squirts how to gaze dramatically again?”

Pearl let out a deep breath, some of the tension flowing out of her. “Amethyst, you came just in time. Something- something _ is not right _ . I don’t know what it is specifically, but Steven is remembering things that didn’t happen, and... could you go grab Peridot? This isn’t in her area of expertise - or maybe it _ is _, I don’t know enough about the situation to say- but she’s intelligent and she knows more about Homeworld than any of us.” That Lapis would inevitably follow and be of great help in the event of a physical threat went unsaid.

Amethyst shrugged and padded over to the warp pad. “Sure thing P, I’ve got it.” 

Pearl went to say something, but Amethyst cut her off before she could. “Actually wait, is this serious, or is it _ serious _ serious?”

A faint smile of approval graced Pearl’s face. “In all honesty, I have no clue. It could be either. Which means-“

“Treat it like it’s _ serious _ serious, because there’s a good chance it is,” Amethyst said, uncannily grim. “I’m on it, P. If I’m not back in a minute, either Lapis is in a bad mood or this thing is serious serious after all.”

The warp pad activated, and like that that she was gone.

“Okay then,” Pearl said. “In the meantime, there’s only one thing we can do.” She turned her gaze to Steven. “Let’s hear more of how you remember the mission going.”

Steven took a deep breath and continued his story.


	2. The Bernstein Bears Are Spelt With An A

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone for your kind comments! And special thanks to Hadithi and GoldDragon for beta-reading!

“Aha!” Exclaimed Peridot, Lapis right on her heels as she led us into one of the tunnels. “There it is! Right this way, everyone!”

We followed her through the tunnel and into another cave. It was larger than the others, almost the size of the first cave we entered, and something must have been wrong with the lights because it was pretty dimly lit. With a nod from Garnet we spread out, the cavern giving us plenty of room.

“It’s on the move!” Peridot said, eyes fixed firmly on the beeping screen in her hands. “It’s coming towards us, from…” she paused, pointing between the different tunnel openings before finally settling on one. “From there!”

I summoned my shield, Pearl tightened her grip on her spear, and Amethyst readied her whip. “Come and get us,” Amethyst whispered. “I dare you.”

We all waited, ready for a fight, silent except for the regular beeping of Peridot’s device.

Nothing happened.

Peridot poked her screen and swore. For Pearl’s sake more than anything else, I covered my ears.

Still nothing.

“Gah, this thing must be defective!” Peridot said. “According to this, the gem monster is _ literally _ right on top of us, which it _ obviously _ isn’t!” As if to accentuate her statement, a small rock fell from the ceiling and landed directly on her head. “Ah!” She exclaimed. “Stupid radar!” she threw her contraption on the ground. “Stupid rocks!” She pointed an accusatory finger at the ceiling. “Stupid-“

Peridot paused. Slowly, she looked back up towards the ceiling. Curious, I followed her gaze and saw-

I froze.

There was a giant gem beast hanging from the ceiling. It must have been as huge as Sugilite, though I couldn’t tell its height; it was shaped like some sort of giant wolf, if wolves had red lights for eyes and claws that looked like they were made from steel and pitch-black fur that turned into some sort of wispy smoke near the end. It shifted its claws just a bit, and another chunk of rock fell down right beside Peridot.

“Lapis,” Peridot said, eyes not leaving the gem monster. “When you get the chance, please remind me to make the next radar give results in three dimensions.”

Then the gem monster fell from the ceiling and everything was chaos.

Garnet must have leapt up before the monster fell, because she was rising up to meet it before anyone else had a chance to react. Not that it did much good, though; she met the monster fist-first with a _ boom _, but she only succeeded in slowing it for a moment before it sent her flying across the cave. Pearl shot a burst of energy from her spear and Lapis sent her blob of water at the monster, but neither had any effect.

Everyone was screaming, I heard cries of “look out!” and “Incoming!” and “Peridot!” That last one was from Amethyst; the monster was still directly above Peridot, and instead of going for the monster, Amethyst went to tackle Peridot out of the way. She hit the green gem less than a second before the gem monster landed with a terrible _ crash _, sending a wave of dust and rock flying in all directions.

“Amethyst, Peridot!” I shouted, “are you okay?”

From the cloud of dust emerged a purple thumb, pointing straight up. “Yeah, we’re good dude.” She smiled and disentangled herself from the small technician. “Man, I thought I was a goner there! That was a close one.”

Then the monster’s jaw emerged from the dust and closed around Amethyst.

She poofed with barely any resistance, her Quartz physiology proving no match for the industrial press that was the monster’s jaws. She only had enough time to realize what was going on before she was gone and her gem clattered to the floor.

“No!” Peridot desperately grabbed at Amethyst’s gem, but almost in the same motion the monster brought its paw down on her hand- and more importantly, _ Amethyst’s gem _. There was a terrible cracking noise, like dozens of branches being snapped at once.

A blow from Garnet knocked the creature off of Peridot, but it was too late. Underneath Peridot’s hand was nothing but shards that had once been Amethyst.

* * *

“Okay, that just doesn’t make sense!”

Pearl’s exclamation broke Steven’s concentration, and he stopped his story to turn his attention to her. “What do you mean?”

“I mean these memories aren’t even slightly connected to reality!” Pearl said, voice rising. “Amethyst _ shattered? _ She was right here a few minutes ago, for crying out loud!” Pearl flailed her arms in the wildly graceful way only she could. “This proves beyond doubt that something is messing with your memories! If this was enemy action, that would have been the worst _ possible _ thing to do!”

Connie and Steven shared a glance. “Um, ma’am?” Connie said. “Do you think this means it _ isn’t _ some sort of enemy?”

Pearl nervously shrugged, bafflement evident on her face. “Most likely? I can hardly imagine a reason for an enemy doing _ this_, but that doesn’t mean a reason doesn’t exist. Besides, it could be some manner of mistake.”

Connie seemed satisfied with this, but Steven’s worried expression didn’t change. Pearl frowned. “Steven, is something on your mind?”

“Y-Yeah,” he said, then slowly, “didn’t Amethyst say she would be back as soon as possible? It’s just… shouldn’t she be back by now?”

There was a pregnant pause.

“W-Well, I’m sure Lapis and Peridot are just being troublesome,” Pearl said, poorly faking a smile to hide the worry and dread growing inside her. “It’s probably nothing, but why don’t we go check on them?”

Connie and Steven nodded, and seconds later they were stepping off the warp pad onto the fields surrounding the barn. “I can’t see Amethyst anywhere,” Pearl said, fingers drumming against her leg. After a tense pause, she said “weapons out, just in case.”

Connie hadn’t brought her sword, but Steven summoned his shield and Pearl pulled out her spear.

Bodies lowered, keeping as quiet as possible, they crept across the countryside, heading towards the barn. Steven and Connie were taking deep breaths in an attempt to slow their racing hearts, to little avail. 

Every time a gust of wind blew through the uncut grass, or some small animal ran away, or someone stepped on a stick and it snapped, Steven could have sworn his heart stopped.

Soon they were in front of the barn itself. There was a curtain draped over the entrance obscuring the inside, but Steven could make out a voice coming from inside.

A voice he didn’t recognize.

“...this really is too easy,” the voice said, deep and cold and slightly distorted. “Not even a challenge. Whatever, I’m still getting paid.”

Pearl said nothing, making a fist and then pressing a finger against her lips. _ Stop. Quiet. _ Even if they didn’t know exactly what she was saying, both Steven and Connie could infer what she meant. Pearl slowly crept over to the curtain, not making a noise. She held up three fingers, then two.

_ Three._

_ Two._

_ One._

Pearl’s spear sliced through the curtain without the slightest hint of resistance, and in the same movement she twirled it around to point in the direction of the voice. “Don’t move, or else!” She screamed, spear pointed directly at…

At the two gems lying down in a hammock, one green and one blue. Peridot and Lapis.

“Hey guys!” Peridot said, waving her tablet at them. “Lapis found this new show, Space Mercenary X, wanna watch it with us?” She paused. “...why are you pointing a weapon at me?”

Pearl let out a palpable sigh of relief, tension visibly flowing out of her as she lowered her spear. “Oh my _ stars, _it’s just you two.”

“Of course it’s just us,” Lapis said. Her arm was curled around Peridot, almost protectively, and she hadn’t relaxed when Pearl stopped pointing her spear at them. “Who else would it be? Care to explain what’s going on?”

“Lapis raises a fair point,” Peridot earnestly said. “While I can certainly appreciate a friendly visit - you should come over more often, in fact - none of my research has suggested that friendly visits are started by damaging the host’s home and pointing weapons at them. If I should be constructing some sort of artillery for my next visit, please inform me now.”

Pearl said nothing, still trying to process Peridot’s.... Peridot, so Connie stepped forward. “Steven was having some suspicious memory problems, so we sent Amethyst over to see if you might know anything.”

“What?” Peridot and Lapis shared a look of naked confusion, both seemingly asking the other if they knew what was happening. “You sent Amethyst?” Peridot said. “I am certain we haven’t seen her today, and definitely not recently.”

_ That _ snapped Pearl out of her stupor. “What do you _ mean _ you didn’t see her recently? She just went here, and she couldn't have gotten _ lost _ or something, so how....” The dread from earlier was returning in force, filling her metaphorical gut. “Something is _ very _ wrong here.”

Peridot maneuvered herself out of the hammock, Lapis following her with a sigh. “Is it possible she went to the wrong warp pad?” She said, voice filling with worry. “No, if she did she would have corrected herself within seconds of arriving at the wrong destination, and _ you _ three got here just fine so it can’t be a complete warp pad malfunction…”

The two gems paced out of the barn, both fidgeting nervously. “Maybe she’s just playing a practical joke on us?” Peridot suggested. 

Neither of them really believed it, but they would take anything they could get. Pearl cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted “Amethyst? Are you here? If you’re hiding or pranking us or something, come out _ right _ now, there’s a chance we may be under attack and this is _ not _ the time for games!”

Her only response was the oppressive silence of nature.

“Pearl,” Steven said, walking up to stand beside her, “I don’t think Amethyst would do that.” Pearl didn’t say anything. Instead, she tightened her grip on her spear. “M-Maybe Peridot was right, and Amethyst’s warping malfunctioned?” He started back towards the warp pad, the others quick to follow. “I really hope Amethyst’s okay. Pearl, you said you didn’t think this was an attack or anything, right?” The _ because that means no one hurt Amethyst _ went unsaid, but Pearl heard it all the same.

“That _ is _ what I suspected, but it’s not a sure thing,” Pearl said. She was about to elaborate when a loud _ crack _ came from below her. A branch? She lifted her foot to see what she had stepped on.

_ Oh no._

“No, no no, _ no no no.”_

“Pearl?” Steven said. “What is it?”

Tears began to flow from her eyes unbidden, and she pointed a single, trembling finger at the ground below her. To the shards of purple littering the ground, hidden by the grass.

To the shards of Amethyst.


End file.
